Ganes is in da house!!

I picked up Ganes from his hostel and we drove to my house. He wanted to see where I lived. Along the way he tried to pronounce some of the street names. Many visitors are amused and confused by the Hawaiian names. It is hard to resist pronouncing them. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W), so some of the names can sound very strange. One of the roads in east oahu is Kalanianaole Highway. It's pronounced kah-lah-nee-ah-nah-o-lay. Another favorite of tourists is Likelike Highway. It's pronounced lee-kay-lee-kay.

We get to my house and Ganes is greeted by my dogs. The cats ignored him. No surprise there. We hung out at my house for a little while and then headed out for some lunch. It was a beautiful day so I suggested a casual place where we could sit by the waterfront. We got a table outside in the sun. Ganes had a lot of questions about living in Hawaii. The laid back lifestyle was appealing to him. Not everyone can make the transition to life here. Some people thrive on the energy of a big city and can't adjust.

After lunch we took a drive along the southeast coast of Oahu. The stretch of road between Hanauma Bay and Sea Life Park is very picturesque. You get incredible views of the ocean as the road winds over the sea cliffs. There are a few areas where you can pull over and check out the scenery. We made stops at the Lanai Lookout, the Halona Blowhole, Sandy Beach and the Makapuu Lookout. I think they were going to do some filming for the TV show Lost when we were at the Halona Blowhole. There was a wardrobe trailer parked in the lot and a helicopter was flying overhead.

We drove through the town of Waimanalo and I pointed out the house used for filming the TV show Magnum P.I. Once we reached the town of Kailua, I turned onto the Pali Highway and headed into downtown Honolulu. The Pali Highway (Highway 61) cuts through the Koolau mountain range and links the windward side of the island with Honolulu. There are some great views from the Pali Lookout, but if you go, don't keep valuables in your car. Break-ins are a problem at the Pali Lookout. Soon downtown Honolulu was in view. Ganes wanted to check out a couple of shoe stores. I should have called him Imelda Marcos. Too bad I just thought of that.

I wasn't able to hang out that evening, so I brought Ganes back to his hostel. I couldn't hang out the next day either. No problem because he had plans for skydiving on the North Shore. We agreed to get together on Friday and close down a few more places.